Before she knew it
by patthewind
Summary: When Juvia meets the stepbrother of her friendly upstairs neighbour, they part ways with nothing more than polite goodbyes. But when they see each other again, she thinks maybe soulmates really do appear when you're least expecting it. (Gruvia)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Juvia wouldn't usually let herself get so behind on her daily schedule, but the entire day just happened to be one of those days. One full of all the tiny things bound to ruin anyone's mood. It started with sleeping through all her alarms, running out of cheese for her breakfast omelette, then being scolded by the bus driver for reaching the bus stop just late enough for it to have to wait out a red light.

Worse of all, she misread her coupons wrong and missed the sales by a day, putting a huge dent in her monthly budget. And it wasn't like she could just put all those supplies back when she's been holding up a huge line a half hour from closing with the gigantic haul she's been planning for weeks.

Her hectic day was drawing to an end, all she needed to do now was get inside her apartment, drink a nice cup of tea, soak in a bath for a few hours, and hopefully finish up the painting she promised her mom she'd get done by the end of the week. If only she could find her damn keys.

Just then her phone beeped from her purse and she almost jumped from the sudden noise.

"Geez" She huffed out loud while struggling with her purse. Setting her numerous bags on the floor, she quickly grabbed the phone out of her bag and silenced the ongoing beeps. (So that's why her loudest 6:30 alarm didn't ring that morning. It was set to PM.) She threw all the other contents in her purse around, but her house keys couldn't be found buried under the usual piles of receipts and expired makeup.

"Did I forgot my keys this morning. No way." She muttered. Digging more frantically now, she was suddenly hit with the memory of rushing out this morning and grabbing her coffee mug, phone, and buss pass. But not her damn keys.

"No no no no no no no." She whispered, forcefully grabbing at the unmoving knobs and pushing against the door. Realizing how loud she was alone in the empty halls, she stopped pulling and gathered all her stuff in her hands again. The halls were empty and she had no idea who any of her neighbours were. Not that they even had a way of letting her in anyways.

"Locked out?" A voice from behind her called. It belonged to Lyon, a friendly upstairs neighbour. His arms were also full of shopping supplies from a different art store, and he wore a friendly, albeit teasing smile. Juvia felt her ears turn a bit red before pulling her lips in a slight pout. His voice was always so gallant and his hair was messed up so perfectly, it really was such a nice sight to see, especially compared to her barely put together appearance this morning.

His eyes were lit with obvious amusement.

She nodded a bit gravelly, and stared enviously at the key ring hanging from his pinky finger.

"Any idea of what you're going to do?" He asked.

"I'll probably ask my friend who has a key to let me, hopefully he's not too busy today." But Juvia grimaced as she said that because she knew Gajeel was just as busy today as he always is, overworked and underpaid in that slump of a metal workshop.

"Oh Gajeel? But didn't he live kinda far away?" Lyon questioned lightly. Juvia couldn't say she was surprised he remembered Gajeel since Lyon only met him for a few moments when he was helping her move in.

Juvia nodded gravely again, realizing she didn't have any idea of what she could do now.

"You know, I have an extra bedroom which is quite clean and just got a bunch of take out." Lyon said."I totally wouldn't mind letting you stay the night if you have nowhere to go."

Surprised by his offer, she wanted to say yes right away since she was already imagining the 3 hour bus ride to her home city to get her key, but a bit of panic rode through her. She had projects for school lined back to back, not to mention her first ever commission piece still needed a lot of work, spending an entire night doing nothing would really put her even more behind schedule. But she didn't want to ride the bus for any longer than she already did today, and it hurt her heart picturing poor Gajeel having to do that after his even more tiring day.

"If you really don't mind, that would literally save my ass." She answered gratefully.

"Yeah, no problem at all, come on let's go. Your arms must be killing you cause mine are killing me." Lyon said.

Juvia followed him into the dingy staircase at the end of the hall and when they reached his door, he grabbed her bags from her hands while she took her shoes off. She looked around the room and took in how beautifully decorated it was. The walls were perfectly white, with pastel colored paintings hung sparsely but smartly throughout the living room and up the stairs until they disappeared around the corner. It looked like an aristocrat lived here, but then she realized that Lyon must've been pretty rich to afford such a place himself.

He set his bags on the floor next to the couch and told her to follow him to the guest bedroom which was at the very end of the hall.

"Well this is it. La maison de Lyon. I'll leave your bags by the bed, and I'll make some tea if you want a cup. Get comfortable, I'll bring some clothes over you can use as pajamas."

"Tea would be great!" Juvia exclaimed happily.

"The owners before me were sort of crazy rich, so this apartment's pretty well furnished." Lyon said when he walked back in the room with 2 fancy cups of Earl Grey tea and a set of crisp silk pajamas. "As luck would turn out, the guy actually fell in love with my stepsister and let me rent it for pretty cheap."

He went to a door and opened it to a pretty big ensuite washroom with a full sized bathtub.

"Oh wow," Juvia said.

"Yeah hopefully you can feel comfortable here. You can give me a copy of your key by the way, so your friend doesn't have to always come down here if you forget it again." He offered.

Juvia took the cup of tea graciously and gulped it. "Would you mind, Lyon?"She asked.

"Not at all." He answered, "So I'll leave you here, I'll heat up dinner soon and call you?"

Juvia nodded.

It looked like Lyon had more to say, when his phone rang. He looked a bit surprised and picked it up.

"It's my stepbrother." He claimed, sorta surprised.

"Hey dumbass, what's up. What, really? No way. Yeah, I'm home, yeah I'm not busy. Yeah, yeah, I can come get you right now. Union station?. Alright see ya soon."

"Well I didn't mention that my step brother was visiting me for a week since he was supposed to arrive tomorrow morning, but he just got in now cause his friend wanted to visit the city and he took the day off work to bus over a day early." Lyon looked at Juvia with concern. "It doesn't bother you right? He'll just sleep in the living room which is what he used to do when my roommate lived here, and he won't bother you."

"Oh no I don't mind at all, I didn't know you had other guest. Sorry for intruding!" Juvia exclaimed.

Lyon chuckled. "Nah, it's completely fine. If anything, he's the one intruding. Besides you would've been bored if it was just me since I don't do much in the evenings. My brother's name is Gray and he's going into first year for engineering at my school. He's moving here at the end of summer and our mom thought I'd be a good idea to have him familiarized with the city before he officially moves in so I'm going to show him around the city for a few days. Do you want to rest, or come with me to pick him up?"

Juvia looked at her phone and realized it was almost 7pm and she hardly had a bite to eat.

"We won't be doing much other than grab dinner, we'll be home before 11." Lyon assured.

"That actually sounds good then. I'm starving. " She said.

"Take a few minutes to get ready, he probably won't be at the station for another 30 minutes." Lyon said.

Lyon took the empty cup from her and Juvia let her hair down from its messy bun and smiled at her reflection.

Living alone in a new city with endless hours of work and classes was so close to draining all the optimism she had left in her, but Lyon was always there to brighten her day in those rare chances she saw him in the halls or when they caught each other at the bus station. He really was the kind of guy who just did all these nice deeds for people who were practically strangers. At that thought, Juvia blushed.

They left the apartment when Lyon knocked on the door, now wearing a baseball hat and a small backpack. They reached the station a fast 20 minutes walk later. Juvia called Gajeel on the way to let him know her situation, and ask if he could make an extra key for Lyon. Gajeel said would be there to open the door tomorrow morning, and would spend the day there to Juvia's delight since he was free Saturday mornings.

Although it didn't seem very smart for the only other person with a copy of Juvia's key to live hours away, they were set to be roommates if Gajeel got off the waiting list for the Mechanical engineer program he was placed on. They're still waiting for the reply and during this time Gajeel decided to stay in their hometown to help manage his uncle's dying metal shop. Juvia was completely sure Gajeel's was going to get in so she refused to take the key back.

When they got to one of the entrances, Lyon called his brother.

"Okay meet us outside the station, we're at the north entrance next to the Tim Hortons. I'm with a friend. I'm wearing a white shirt and she has bright blue hair."

"Oh yeah I see you guys." Lyon hung up the phone and waved towards a guy with dark black hair and a girl with short blonde hair who had her arm firmly linked with his.

"Gray, Lydia, it's nice to see you 2 again."

"Yeah, I couldn't believe Gray was also going to the city the same time I was, so we decided to surprise you!" The girl said. She spoke so fast Juvia had to actually pay attention to understand what she was saying.

"Hey who's this?" Lydia asked. "I'm Lydia" She said to Juvia and reached out her hand with a huge smile.

"I'm Juvia."

"Hey I'm Gray, nice to meet you." The stepbrother said. He pulled his arm out from Lydia's grasp and gave Juvia a small smile.

"Nice to meet you both!" Juvia said again.

Lyon smiled and put his arm around Juvia is a friendly manner.  
"She's staying the night too since she got locked out of her apartment, so you 2 have to sleep in the living room. Sorry for this, but this is what you get for disrupting my friday night." He said to Gray.

"Ruin your friday night watching netflix by yourself, loser?" Gray asked.

Juvia giggled at Lyon teasing Gray. Gray's entire character was gruff and brash while Lyon's was softer with just a touch of light teasing. But she could feel the easy way they acted around each other and the light in Lyon's eyes when he smiled proudly at his brother, who in Juvia's opinion looked a tad emo.  
Lydia ignored their bickering and instantly brightened up. "Is there only one couch, Lyon?"

Lyon laughed " How did I know you were going to ask that. Sorry Lydia unfortunately I have 2 couches, depends on if you're willing to share the full size one with Gray or have him squished into the loveseat."

"Well I know which one I want!" Lydia said, to which Gray scoffed at.

"No way am I going to be able to sleep next to these two bickering all night" He winked at Gray and Lydia giggled while she linked her arm through Gray's again. Gray didn't react other than say they really shouldn't be blocking the way anymore.

On their way to finding a restaurant, Lyon and Juvia walking ahead while Lydia walked behind with Gray, chatting her head off. A few minutes of silence later, Lyon leaned into Juvia and whispered "This day probably isn't going the way you expected it at all. Sorry if you just wanted a relaxing night at home, but I promise the walls are really soundproof, you won't actually hear those 2 bickering all night and you can use the washroom in my room."

Juvia blushed. Lyon was so close to her at this point that his lips were basically grazing her ears. He really was so sweet apologizing to her when all he's done was let her stay over and offer to pay for her dinner since she left her wallet back in his bedroom.

"It's not problem. This is really fun, I haven't been out all summer. Your brother and his girlfriend seem really fun." She said back.

"Nah, that's not his girlfriend, and he's usually more cheerful but I think he's tired from the train ride. Anyways for tomorrow, I was wondering if-"

But he was interrupted with Lydia's declaration that they had to eat at the cafe they just passed because of their impressive macaron display. Juvia looked at Lyon and he raised an eyebrow waiting for him to finish his question. He looked at her and smiled. "I'll ask inside."

The sun was just starting to set, the air was getting a bit chilly, now that they stopped walking, Juvia realized she was actually a bit cold in her sweatshirt.

"I don't see why not." Lyon called back to Lydia. To Juvia's surprised, he suddenly removed his jacket and placed it over Juvia's shoulder before grabbing her hand and pulling her back from where they walked.

"This place is actually pretty good" He said. Juvia's heart fluttered beyond her control and she managed to control what was probably the biggest smile she ever smiled before stating that she loved macarons.

* * *

Thanks for reading everyone! Look out for Chapter 2!

Omg i edited this chapter and erased the disclamier about how behind i am with FT. I'm like so behind, we're talking like end of first season anime, so like characters might be OOC compared to recent developments, my apologizies! its just I've mooved on from the manga but not from my bby's Gruvia. So yeah! hope it's still readable! love u all and pls leave reviews i love reviews 3


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2. 

There wasn't anything good about her situation. 2am in the middle of winter, sitting on a frozen park bench in front of her apartment, tears threatening to spill onto her cheeks. Lyon had gone in the building a few minutes ago, and offered to walk her up but she politely declined, saying she needed to run to the corner store for snacks just so she didn't have to talk to him any longer at the moment. In there, the fluorescent lights intensified her headache, but she blindy grabbed random bags of chips off the wall and a couple bottles of water for the sake of walking in. 

Her phone lit up with Cana's incoming call as she grabbed her bags from the checkout and ran out the store. She knew she should answer her friend's call, who was most likely checking if she got home safe. 

But Juvia waited for the call to end before opening her messages and quickly typing 'I'm home, go to sleep :)" Cana didn't reply so she clicked her phone off and stuffed it in her pocket with her freezing hands. Her mind was racing with a million thoughts, but there wasn't anything coherent she could identify. She sat on the bench outside of her apartment to collect her thoughts. 

She knew she should go inside first. She had already become numb from the frozen bench, but her legs didn't seem to be working properly after sitting down. It was hard to imagine that the night had ended up ending the way it did, everything just seemed so normal just a few hours ago.

She was leaving Cana's house much later than she planned to. Everyone else who came over had left hours ago and as usual, they lost track of time gossipping and talking about anything. Juvia knew Cana was catching feelings for one of her best friends Bacchus. They were drinking buddies since they were the only ones who could keep up with each other, and she always used to tease them about how high tolerance their future kids would be.

"How are you and Lyon holding up?" Cana asked after a lull in their conversation, after laughing about the time Bacchus got so drunk he wound up puking all over a police.

Juvia smiled, despite thinking about all the awkward silence that's been filling up their relationship lately. Although they never fought, they never really talked about anything in general much anymore. But she was adamant it was just a rough patch due to how much stress Lyon's been in lately. He was graduating in a year and although he was good at his major, it's never been something he wanted to do and he was really lost lately. She didn't know if she should approach him about the subject, since he never gave her any openings to even talk to him anymore.

"He's just been so moody, I'm not sure how to help him at all. He doesn't even try to tell me what's wrong like before." She responded.

Cana nodded understandably, although she never knew what to say in these situations. She wanted to help her friend out but she's never been in a serious relationship. Besides, she knew Juvia just appreciated having someone to listen to her without judgement. Lyon was only Juvia's second boyfriend since high school and Cana really wanted it to end better than it had with Bora.

Juvia's eye caught alarm clock on Cana's nightstand that read 1:40am.

"Oh my god, I need to get home!" Juvia cried. She had an 8:30 critique tomorrow and really couldn't afford to be late.

"Holy it's so late. Do you need a ride?" Cana asked, like she always did even though their apartments were only a 10 minute walk apart.

"No it's okay." Juvia said as she grabbed her laptop, charger and notebooks off the ground. "I'll run." Surprisingly, the streets were relatively safe this time of night, especially during exam season.

"Good luck on your critique!" Cana cried out while pulling herself off the floor and her friend ran out with a hug. "Call me after we shud get lunch together!"

As Juvia walked home, she couldn't help but think of how badly Lyon was doing lately. It was really starting to stress her out, and the last thing she needed was more stress. He had locked himself in his apartment since the start of exams, and barely talked to her other than when they walked to the station together, or to text her goodnight/goodmorning.

After turning the corner, her apartment was in full view, and there stood Lyon, motionless and looking deep in thought.

"Lyon?" Juvia called out, surprised that he was awake at this time when she knew he had a midterm early tomorrow morning too.

"Oh, Juvia." He said quietly, snapping out of his thoughts, obviously just as surprised to see her. She ran to him and stared at him with concern, grabbing his arms. "What are you doing out with a sweater when it's almost -5 degrees out? And don't you have a midterm tomorrow?" She barely heard from him in 2 days and this was the state he was in?

Lyon smiled very politely, and sighed. He pulled his arms back and stuffed them in his pocket. "I'm not cold, you know that. And I do, I was just out here thinking because I couldn't sleep again."

"Let's go back inside." she said, placing an arm around his waist as if to pull him from his unmoving stance.

"Juvia.." He started.  
She stopped and looked at him with concern. He suddenly looked so pained and Juvia felt a chill go through her.  
"I was thinking about us." he said. "I know this is hardly the best time, and I was going to do this tomorrow after the last of our exams, but seeing you right now, I'm really starting to think this isn't working out."

Juvia stood frozen, her world spinning slightly. Is this what she thought it was? Was he breaking up with her? In the middle of the night?

"Lyon.." She started. "Let's just go inside first."

He seemed to ignore her and she didn't know what else to do other than retrieve her arm and wait for what he was going to say next.

"Juvia, I'm so sorry to do this now, it's just you feel like this relationship is going nowhere too right? I have to get this all out now before I know I won't be able to tomorrow. You know that I love you, and I know you love me but where we are in life is just so different from each other. I think I need to some time to myself."

Juvia couldn't get any words out. Was he really going to do this now? Like this?  
"Lyon, wha-" 

"Let's go in." He said, taking a step.

"No, you go in first I need to get some ...snacks." That was the only thing Juvia was able to get out due to the shock of their situation.

He looked surprised. "You don't want to talk about it?" He asked.

Juvia felt a slab of rage go through her. Did he not remember that tomorrow's critique was the day she had been waiting for all semester?

"No I have to be up in 5 hours. We can talk about it tomorrow. You need to sleep too." She remained as calm as she could be, and her disbelief in the situation was helping. 

He looked incredulously at her. "Is this not important enough to talk about now? It wasn't easy to bring this up when I'm so busy, but I really think doing it now when I have the courage to is better for the both of us in the long run."

The slab of rage increased. When he was so busy sulking and ignoring her?

"Lyon, it's 2am, let's talk about this tomorrow okay? At lunch."

He looked like he was about to respond, but decided against it.  
"Fine." He responded curtly, "I'll see you tomorrow then."

Juvia knew that if she didn't get home soon, eventually Gajeel will kill himself from caffeine and sleep deprivation if she didn't make him physically get into bed. Although she literally got dumped out of nowhere, she still had to get a little bit of sleep in if she wanted to be functioning tomorrow.

She pressed the elevator button to her floor, before a voice called out to hold the elevator. A tall figure dressed in only a sweater with a backpack ran in, and pressed the button to the floor above hers. 

"Thanks." He said.

Juvia stared hard at him, realizing that he looked so familiar, but she had no idea why. He must've felt her stare on his because he glanced over for a second and offered a small smile.

"Hey you're Lyon's brother right?" She blurted out loud, when she realized the silver cross he wore around his neck matched Lyon's black one.

"Yeah." He responded. "You're his girlfriend right? I recognized you when you walked in but figured you forgotten me when you didn't say anything."

"Oh I'm sorry for being rude. I'm just a bit tired." Juvia wasn't sure how to address the comment about her being Lyon's girlfriend.

"Nah it's fine." Juvia didn't know what else to say so she quietly stared at a corner.

The bell dinged her floor and she stepped off.

"See you around I think?" Gray called out. Juvia smiled.

"Yeah". 

When she got in her apartment, all the lights were off except for the dim yellow of Gajeel's desk lamp from his open door. He was fast asleep next to an empty starbucks cup that no doubt used to be filled with straight black coffee. She clicked his lamp off and placed a light blanket over his shoulders.

Being in the warmth of her apartment makes her almost believe that the last 20 minutes of her life didn't happen, that she was going to check her phone and there would be messages from Lyon telling her goodnight. But she checked her phone before plugging it in her charger and there was nothing. 

While brushing her teeth, tears threatened to spill again, but she finished her routine and changed into her pajamas while managing to hold it in. It was when she got in bed with the lights off, that she quietly sobbed and willed herself to an oddly dreamless sleep.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Look out for chapter 3, it'll be from Gray's POV!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

Her critique went fine, to her relief but not surprise. It was late morning by the time their class was finished, and Juvia was walking out with Lydia, the same Lydia she had met earlier that summer.

Lydia had recognized her in class and shouted out her name, and Juvia was completely surprised to see her. The last memory she had of Lydia was seeing her and Gray still asleep on the living room couch while thanking Lyon for letting her stay over. Apparently Lydia had gotten in on the waiting list for this school, miraculously. She didn't even let Gray or Lyon know until late august when someone dropped the program last minute. They didn't talk about anything in class much other than art, and sometimes she would ask Juvia about Lyon.

They were barely friends, but were friendly to each other. Lydia was quite popular since she was able to talk to basically anyone, while Juvia stayed with her corner of friends.

"Hey, I loved your pieces today!" Lydia cried enthusiastically. "Especially the water colored one. It looks so much like the piece Lyon has hanging in his kitchen. The colors are just so pleasing to look at."

Juvia smiled widely. "Thanks so much Lydia that was the piece that I was most nervous to have judged." She wondered if Lydia knew about what happened last night. If she did she probably wouldn't have brought up Lyon, but Lyon must have told Gray last night, and Gray might've told her if he knew they shared the same class.

"I really liked your kittens one." She told Lydia. And she really did, it was really bright and colorful, and attention calling, much like Lydia _._

"Yeah it's my favourite one, I think I'm going to sell prints of it on Etsy." She said, sounding flattered.

"Oh you should for sure!" Juvia said enthusiastically. "I'll definitely buy one!"

"Oh Juvia you're literally a sweetheart!" Lydia cried, giving her a quick hug. "Well I'll see you in class tomorrow, I have to catch a lunch date with Gray!"

Juvia flinched internally when she realized that after stepping out of the building, she was going to have to meet Lyon at his apartment for her own lunch...talk. After her critique, her shoulders felt a little less tense from stress but her mind was starting to feel the pain from the breakup. Immediately, when she started feeling any sort of saddness, she managed to block it out for the sake of remaining sane for class. But being back at home, and looking in the mirror checking her hair and outfit for Lyon, then remembering that this wasn't a date anymore; her mind frantically searched to find a reason for her face to not give away her calm facade.

She finally decided on tights, her blue sweater, and jacket before running out the door, quiet relectantly.

Gray's POV

Lydia was having another ranting session, but this time she's really choosing the wrong moment to have one. They were at the library, and he was studying for a midterm tomorrow, while she was there keeping him company and working on her art reflections. He knew she was finished it days ago, since she was scarily meticulous when it came to marks and school, but he didn't mind her keeping him company.

"And when I told him my idea for the painting, he said it was kind of childish for a serious art critique! Can you believe he would say that right to my face?" She asked, complaining about Lyon, whos she has been asking for art advice recently. "He doesn't even paint, or hasn't since he was in highschool! What would he know about university art?"

Gray sighed, "If you really don't think he's qualifies to help you, stop asking him for help?"

"Well he might not be good at helping, he's still good at art." She said, huffingly. "I just can't believe he would actually say it as if he knows what he's talking about."

"No offence Lydia, but cats playing with a ball of yarn does sound a bit childish. Wasn't the theme 'growth as an artist'?"

Lydia pouted. "Yeah but it's actually a really good concept, because it displays how much my technique improves even in such a childish painting!"

"Well it's your painting." He said, as he turned to his physics textbook.

"You like the idea right?" She persisted.

"Yes." He said, not looking up. "Now just let me read this last chapter and I'll talk to you okay?"

He knew he was being a bit harsh towards her but the only way he could get her to be quiet is if he sounded serious. Although he was momentarily annoyed, he softened back up when she didn't say anything, and turned to her laptop with a slight pout.

Although he didn't get much done with Lydia with him, since she ended up talking to him a few moments later, he was already well studied for his course, and his average was high enough to not worry about exams. The library closed at 1:30am and when the bell sounded, he and Lydia began tiredly packing up.

"It's kind of late, do you want to stay at my place?" She asked, excitedly. Gray knew she was going to ask, but he knew that if he did, she would talk to him all night, and she was such a restless sleeper, she'd probably would kick him awake every hour.

"Sorry Lydia, I still have bruises on my legs from last week. From your kicking."

She begrudgingly agreed saying that she wanted him to sleep well before his last exam, but still asked one last time when they reached her lobby. He refused again.

"Good luck on your exam, can we go out for lunch tomorrow?" She asked, slyly, knowing he would agree to this after refusing to her other requests.

"Sure," he answered with a smile. Lydia beamed, staring at him, particularly his lips. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes shifted away for a second.

"Well bye." He said, quietly, swiftly turning around without watching her walk in the building like he usually did.

Gray knew she wanted them to kiss again, but he really wasn't ready for that yet. In fact he really wasn't sure what he was doing with Lydia in general. He knew she liked him, that much was completely obvious to anyone who knew them, and even strangers probably. Since they walk around with her clinging onto him, but he wasn't sure what he felt about her. He liked her back as a friend, although begrudgingly at first since she refused to leave his side after they met in middle school. She used to be so much like a bro back then, playing video games and exploring the city together. Even in high school when she became artsy and he got intensely athletic, they were still close, and spent a lot of time after school together. They were neighbours and their parents were friends so it was really common for them to eat dinner together and spend nights in each others rooms studying. It was senior year when people started to tease them about dating, and she used to brush away the comments, until halfway through the year when she started to blush every time they were together, and physically _cling_ onto him. Even in school.

They even went to prom together; he asked her of course, and they kissed during their slow dance but he was so confused about his feelings, he never mentioned that again. She insisted they hung out with each other that summer since they were going to different schools however, now they were at the same university. It was almost like there was no way fate wasn't going to make them end up married with 5 kids together, and Gray really had no clue how he felt about _that_.

It wasn't like he wasn't physically attracted to her, and he really does love her despite her flaws and was grateful for their friendship and really respected her career as an artist, but _romance? Marriage?_ She probably thought about all those things, and even though he wanted to deny it, he was kind of relieved there was someone who would always be by his side. But he couldn't brush off the slight tinge of guilt he feels everytime he thought of how happy she is around him. Especially that second time they kissed when they visited Lyon in the city the first time. Honestly he wasn't sure why he did that. She had confessed tiredly that night that she wished he liked her as much as Lyon seemed to like that Juvia girl, and Gray just felt so much guilt that moment he sort of kissed her to shut her up and settle his uneasiness. (It worked though, but not really in his favous since kissing her right after she complained about something like that really made it seem like he _did_ like her as much as Lyon liked Juvia _. (which unfortunately he didn't)_ )

His thoughts were completely lost in this until he ended up at Lyon's apartment since he really didn't feel like taking the late subway back to his place. It was only 15 minute walk from Lydia's; Natsu probably had Lucy over, and Loke definitely had a girl over too, so he didn't bother texting anyone that he wasn't going home that night. Especially since they were giving him the eyebrow wiggles when he said he was meeting Lydia at the library that night.

He saw a girl outside the apartment, sitting on the wooden bench, staring deeply at her hands and convenience store bag. Probably contemplating her entire life's worth since it was exam season, pretty typical. He didn't give it much thought.

But there was only one person he knew with blue hair, and it was Lyon's girlfriend who he remembered lives one floor down. Why was she outside her apartment at, he looked at his phone, 2am?

She stood up and walked inside the building. The elevator door was halfway closed by the time he got in the building.  
"Hold the door please!" He called out, knowing how notoriously slow the elevators to this building were.

He reached the elevator before it closed, and pressed the button to his floor, which was one above the girls. So this was Lyon's girlfriend. She was looking at him, and he didn't know whether it was the bad lighting but her eyes were a bit red, and her eye bags looked almost 3-D intense Which wasn't surprising since he knew from Lyon that she was a seriously hard worker.

He offered her a small smile since he realized he had been staring a bit.

"Hey you're Lyon's brother right?" She asked.

"Yeah." He responded. "You're his girlfriend right? I recognized you when you walked in but figured you forgotten me when you didn't say anything."

"Oh I'm sorry for being rude. I'm just a bit tired." She replied.  
"Nah it's fine." He brushed it off, and wanted to smile again but she quickly turned her eyes to the corner.

The bell dinged her floor and she stepped off.

"See you around I think?" Gray called out, knowing that Lyon would probably tell him off if he wasn't being extremely polite to his girlfriend.

She smiled politely and waved before the doors closed.

Gray pounded on Lyon's door, knowing there was no way he was sleeping the night before an exam. His brother was always fond of the all nighter cramming then chugging coffee in the morning studying method. Worked for his 4.0 GPA for 3 years, so no one complained.

"Come in." Lyon cried out. Gray knew Lyon knew it was him since he had a functioning doorbell he never bothered to use.

"I just saw your girlfriend in the elevator. She looked like she went through hell for exams. What's she doing outside the building so late by herself?" Gray asked when he opened the door to Lyon lounging on his couch reading from his computer.

"Ex-girlfriend." Lyon said monotonously, ignoring his question.

Gray recoiled. "Damn seriously?" He asked, completely surprised.

Lyon looked up with eyes that were deader Natsu's when realized he slept through his math exam.

"Not in the mood to talk about it." He said. "You can stay in the guest room."

Gray set all his stuff in the room and went to brush his teeth, deciding that he should leave Lyon alone for tonight and get out of his hair as soon as possible in the morning. Although his older brother was a goofball, and really chill, there were times where there would be no point at all trying to talk to him. He noticed a blue toothbrush in the trash. Geez his brother was seriously such a child sometimes.

Why would they break up? He wondered. Even till recently, he's been crazy about her, buying her all sorts of gifts and gushing about her to time in bursts of text messages he didn't bother to respond to. Next to Lydia's hourly text's and his brothers weekly reminders to appreciate all the beauty life offers, Gray hardly saw a point to checking his phone.

Well this wasn't his problem, he thought. He went to sleep right away, and the next thing he knew his alarm for 7:30 was ringing.

tbh im not really sure what i'm doing with this fic but i hope you guys enjoy! i really appriciate reviews! 3 constructive critisim, helpful tips, and story suggestions! thanks for reading 3


	4. Chapter 4

**Ayyy, guess who finished her exams! Woo this means new chapter, and maybe another one soon!**

 **/Be warned though/ this story is getting picked up after idek when the last update was so I've definately lost track of where it was supposed to be going, but I'll sort out my thoughts and come up with an actual plot and ending since it's the break. Any reviews/constructive critisim/ story ideas are appreciated and welcomed!**

Chapter 4

Juvia's POV

She knew the lunch was going to be a long one, but she didn't exactly expect Lyon to be telling her, after 2 hours of pouring his hearts out about why he was so moody for the past few weeks, that he was dropping out of his program and transferring to an art school in the next city.

She was shocked, to say the least, he never used to say anything against his current situation, and he never hinted at wanting to pursue art any further than helping her occasionally. But he was also known to follow his heart when decision making; something she was always going to be supportive of, whether they were dating or broken up. She just wished he wasn't so vague about it towards her when she knew, he knew, that she'd would still be happy for his decision.

"I'm really proud that you're still chasing your dream." She said with a smile. "When do you start?"

"Next week." He said.

"Wow, that's really soon." Juvia exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah, I have to set up my apartment and talk to the counselors about credits and stuff."

"I really hope you have a good time there." She said, reaching across the table to hold his hand, and offered a reassuring smile when she felt him untense.

"I'm really sorry about you having to find out like this, Juvia. I really should have told you way sooner but I was already too stressed with having to deal with the decision myself to talk about it openly."

"That's fine, Lyon. It is a really big change." She wanted to be understanding about the situation, especially for him right now.

"Well," he said, looking at his watch. "I should go I still have to tell my brother about this, oh he mentioned he saw you yesterday."

"Yeah in the elevator. Well Lyon, call me before you leave okay. I can help you pack." Juvia said as she gathered her wallet and purse. "And I'm not mad at all, just know that i only want what you think is good for you."

He smiled and stood to hug her. He let go after 10 seconds and she noticed his eyes were shiny.

"I hope I can find someone like you again, but you'll always be my soulmate." He said. Juvia felt her own eyes sting from tears as she took one last look at him. They were relatively quiet in the bustling cafe, which was at it's busiest time of day, but right then she could only see him, and it felt like he could also only see her. Both of them holding back tears.

"Bye, have a good day." Their waitress cheerily called to them as they walked out the jingling door together. With one last hug, he kissed her forehead and walked towards the direction of his building.

She headed towards the subway station. Although she could tell Lyon was torn up, she couldn't figure out if it was because of her or everything else that was happening. She promised Cana she would get the details right away, and she knew she could always count on Cana to cheer her up.

The girl talk session was much needed, and Juvia didn't think she'd break down in front of her friend, but she did the moment Cana opened the door much more seriously than usual. (Which meant she opened the door normally without yelling something along the lines of "BITCH I HAVE SO MUCH TO TELL YOU", and _fully clothed_ ) Juvia had collapsed in her open arms and through crying told her the story Lyon told her. She couldn't paint him as the bad guy, since he technically did nothing wrong but Cana was no short of insulting him in anyway she could.

"Don't deny it Juvia, he's kind of a pussy. He cries at every fricken movie, even the BEE MOVIE? Do you really want thAt to be your soulmate?"  
"He's just sensitive!" She said, but she was laughing.  
"Don't try to defend him now. You know he should've told you about this instead of literally giving you a 2 weeks notice. By the way, if he's leaving in 2 weeks why did you guys break up now?"

Juvia sighed. This part was quiet painful to her, since she didn't even feel the need to break up at all if she was going to be honest with her feelings.

"He said he was going to be so busy with the move he probably didn't have time for anything else." she said, trying to get through the sentence but accidently let her voice quiver near the end.

"That ASSHOLE." Cana shouted. Juvia winced. How her best friend has not been kicked out by her roommate or the entire apartment complex was a mystery to her.

"I fucking hate him now officially. Should i get the vodka."

"Cana no, I have to work tomorrow." Juvia protested. But her friend already pulled out the bottle and handed it to Juvia.

"Drink, and tell me every single thing about this bitch. Don't hold back" She instructed. Juvia didn't protest, and drank a mouthful.

Gray's POV

Gray was about to go home and crash, but Lyon texted him asking if he could return to his apartment about something urgent.

Gray texted back "What is it about?" but he got no reply. He decided to go, in case his brother was really troubled by something. But if it was for relationship advice he would've kicked his ass despite his recent breakup.

"What did you need to talk about." Gray asked when he went in the apartment. "If it's about your breakup call mom or something."

"I'm moving in 2 weeks. To Vancouver. You want the apartment?" He asked, nonchalantly. Lyon was sitting at his kitchen island, reading a book, looking fairly well rested despite what happened last night.

Gray was shocked. "What." He said. "Moving? When did you…what the hell?"

"Yeah, bro you know I've always wanted to do something with art. I already applied and got accepted and i start next semester."

"Is this why you broke up with Juvia? And dude, congrats..also are you serious about the apartment?" Gray needed answers as fast as he was asking, but Lyon didn't seem to be in a rush. In fact he was painstakingly taking his time as if he didn't realize what a bomb he dropped on him.

"Yes about the Juvia thing, and yes for the apartment. I leased it the whole year, and it's way better than that dump of a place you Natsu and Loke live now. One of you guys can just live in the living room."

"I mean...sure. But dude, wow seriously congrats." Gray wasn't lying he was happy for his brother. He was just surprised he had the guts to do anything about it so late in his life.

"Yeah, I'm pretty excited." Lyon smiled for the first time since last night. "I did some research on the profs and some of them are pretty amazing in the art world."

" Lyon if that's all i'm going to go home and crash. I'm exhausted. We can talk about this tomorrow. Are you visiting mom and dad?"

"Yeah I am, I have to tell them too. I'll give you a ride home tomorrow."

"Wait," he asked. "Am I first person you told about this?"

"Nah, but I haven't told Ren and Sherry yet," he answered.

"Sherry's gonna cry." Gray chuckled. To put it in terms that Gray understood, Sherry was basically Lydia, but to Lyon. She was so devastated about Juvia that she hooked up with Ren, who was lyon's best friend. And then got even more pissed when she realized Lyon actually didn't care about that at all. Lydia and Lyon were really gossip-y when they hung out together to discuss her art so Gray still got quite a few details about his life.

"Juvia didn't even cry." Lyon said. He sounded unwavering, but he gripped his book a bit tighter.

"She looked pretty upset in the elevator." Gray recalled the redness in her eyes. "Looked like she cried."

"You saw her today?" Lyon asked, looking up.

"No, last night." He reminded him.

"Oh, she didn't know about it last night."

"Wait so why did you guys break up?" Gray asked, curiously.

"I dont know, It's just easier. For her too, she doesn't have to date someone who's living hours away."

"Your life." Gray said, not wanting to meddle. "I'm going home if that's all."

"Sure, I'll message you about the apartment more tonight. Tell me when I should pick you up."

Gray got home, walking past Natsu and Lucy outside their hallway. "One more exam left!" Lucy cried out excitedly when she saw Gray. She wasn't wearing any makeup, but the Blonde still looked stunning in sweats and her oversized Jacket while Natsu smirked at him, his arm around her waist.  
"Ay, good luck Lucy. What's with the look, loser?" He said to Natsu.  
"Spent the night at Lydia's huh?"  
"No I went to my brothers. I gotta tell you something later."  
"Yeah, we're still going out for dinner right?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah I'll tell you there," Gray said.

The door was unlocked, so he knew Loke was home. He was watching tv and eating from an old take out container, typical.  
"Hey, so you spent the night at Lydia's?" Loke said with a smirk from their couch.

"No my brothers. Geez, you and Natsu both. By the way, Lyon offered his apartment." Gray said, setting all his stuff in his bedroom before walking out and joining him on the couch.

"No way!" Loke cried. "Isn't it right by the school, and like huge?"

"Yeah, he wants to know if we wanna take it. But someone's gotta sleep in the living room."

"Hell yeah we'll take it. But, I'm gonna need a room. Natsu too, if he and Lucy are gonna be gross every day."

"Yeah, I'll take the living room. Even though it's my fricken brothers apartment you assholes." But Gray was actually fine with it. It was way better than their shitty apartment Lyon's sister left for them.

Loke laughed, "If you hooked up with Lydia, trust me you and Natsu are gonna get a room for sure. But right now, even my love life is going better than yours."

"Sure, I'd love to meet one of the hook ups one day. They sound like great people." Gray's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Better than Lucy and Natsu having sex every fucking night." Loke said. Which was true.

Gray didn't ever want to hear Natsu like that ever in his life. The pink haired guy was definitely one of Gray's best friend's despite meeting him just a few months ago when looking for roommates, but hearing him and Lucy going at it before every 8:30 class for 3 months was more than he could handle. Especially since he's known Lucy for forever since they were family friends. To say he was shocked when Lucy actually liked Natsu backe was an understatement. But he was happy for them, who else was going to get Natsu to actually start going to class everyday, even though surprisingly he was some sort of gifted genius in chemistry, his major, despite fucking around all the time.

Loke was one of his best friends from high school, and was studying life sciences, he and Natsu used to fight over a lot of stuff in the beginning since they had clashed but in a different way Gray and Natsu did but they worked out their differences and they were definately going to room again next year. Who else could put up with Loke's fuckboy habits, and Natsu's mess.

"Well, I'm gonna take a nap." Gray said, "Call me for dinner." He was exhausted but he was finally done with exams which meant he could sleep. He also wanted to think about what happened during lunch with lydia today, since it seemed like no one was letting up about her.

"Aight see ya." Loke said.

Lydia had kissed him today, but he had let her. And she didn't even make it like a big deal, she just, did it after he told her he had to go to Lyons. After she said bye, she just hugged him, and suddenly they had kissed for a good 5 seconds and she walked off.

Gray wondered if this meant he liked her back if he let her do that, but he didn't know how he felt at all. He literally hasn't felt like he liked anyone since his huge crush on Lucy during middle school but he had gotten over that when he realized he only liked her because she was the only girl he knew that wasn't in grade school with him for 6 years.

He wrestled with telling Loke about this, but he decided it wouldn't hurt. He'd rather talk to Natsu since he was actually pretty good at relationship advice, but Natsu was obviously out, walking Lucy to her exam. (Damn he was actually such a good boyfriend would he even want to walk Lydia to her exam if they were in the same situation, Gray wondered.)

"Dude, if I let Lydia kiss me today, does that mean I like her?" Gray asked, walking back into the living room.

"Not necessarily?" Loke answered, with a huge smile. "But hey, finally. Maybe you should just hook up with her to see if you really like her."

Gray shook his head. "I'm pretty sure that'll just make her think we're already engaged or something."

Loke chuckled. "Wait you guys aren't already?" He joked.

Gray playfully punched his arm. "Nope. I'm not even sure if I even like her. Maybe I just like that she likes me." He said.

Loke shrugged. "I don't know. Would you be pissed if I hooked up with her?" He asked.

"What the fuck. Don't do that." Gray said. But when he thought about it, would he even be mad due to jealousy, or just cause he knew what Loke was like with girls.

"See, you like her a bit."

"Ugh, you're no help." Gray said.

"Yeah, tell me about this when you guy's actually do something." Loke said. "By the way, that girl I met a few days about is bringing a friend to dinner tonight."

"Okay." Gray said, "who's the girl you met a few days ago.'

"Her names Cana, she's Lucy's friend."

"Oh her." Gray said. The brunette had drunk him and Loke under the table a few weeks ago when they were celebrating their last week before finals. Gray liked her alot, she was able to keep a banter going with him the whole night, and she was hilarious.

"She said her friends pretty upset over something and needs some cheering up. It's fine if she comes right?" Loke asked.

"Yeah, I don't care. It's Lucy's birthday." Gray said.

"Okay. Aren't you going to sleep?" Loke asked.

"Nah", said Gray, grabbing the remote from the table, and flipping through his netflix. "Not tired anymore."

Dunno where to end this, so sorry if the endings are always super awkward XD

Thanks for reading up to this point to whoever stayed! Love you all, and thanks sm for the support!


	5. Chapter 5

**Well,** tis here! the next chapter! chapter numero five! I think in the last chapters authors note i was like I'm going to try and actually plan out the plot and stuff, welllll I didn't lOL

I mean I think now i at least know the couple dynamic I'm going to try sticking with so that's some progress! My bio said this story was going to be 10 chapter's long, but I think its going to be much longer. This chapter alone is the length of 2 previous ones, and barely anything juicy happens. So next chapter I'm going to have to stop being weak and write some actual GRUVIA interactions!

Well, rambling over! Pls enjoy and any sort of feedback is very much appreciated!

* * *

 **Chapter 5.**

The restaurant was crowded, since basically everyone was out celebrating the end of exams. Since every restaurant was overflowing, they were willing to wait out the line for their favourite place. Cana didn't end up bringing her friend, because she was drunk in her apartment and sleeping it off.

"What was she doing drinking in the middle of the day?" Loke asked Cana. Cana shrugged, "It was what needed to happen. Girl had a lot to say but she was holding it in. Whatever, exams are over, and she needed to let loose."

The group was crowded at the front of the restaurant for their table. The 3 of them, Gray, Cana, and Loke, huddled together while Lucy and Natsu were in their own little world, his arm swung across her with him whispering in her ear while she hugged his waist and laughed at everything he said. They had perfectly tuned out everyone else around them, and that much was obvious. Natsu wore the big toothy smile Gray's only seen when he talks to Lucy (and him sometimes, but only when he's drunk, which was creepy). Cana was right on one thing; now that exams were over, everyone was definitely more relaxed than usual. Gray certainly was too, as according to his calculations, he had only slept an average of 4 hours a night this week so he was so looking forward to sleep as long as possible that night with not upcoming assignments or early lectures the next day. All he had to do was endure a car ride with Lyon home, and 3 weeks of video gaming and binge watching the office for the millionth time. Lyon was not a considerate human being when he was their taxi. He never lets his passengers sleep, blaring music and talking nonstop to keep himself awake. Not something Gray looks forward to.

"Also, she mentioned you. Her ex is your brother?" She asked Gray.

"Yeah." He answered.

"He's a huge dick." Cana stated, her tone implying she was not inviting to be debated against.

Gray winced. Not that he was the type to defend his siblings openly, he still felt slightly defensive, since it was his brother. It's not like Lyon was actually a complete dick,.. other than this whole situation. He had seemed like a really good boyfriend to Juvia the other time they were dating? Sure Lyon was over dramatic and extra, but he always puts other people in front of himself, and it was no secret that he was extremely in love with Juvia.

Gray didn't reply, so Cana continued on her mini tangent.

"Okay i shouldn't say that, I don't even know him other than when I would tease Juvia about them when they were dating. But Juvia really love him but him doing this to her is really fucked up."

"That I can completely agree with." Gray said, earnestly.

"Juvia never complains, but this time she was so hurt. She cried for like the whole afternoon, so please give me his number so I can give that fucker a piece of my mind."

Gray wondered if he should unleash this woman on her brother so unsolicited. "Ask Juvia for it."

"Oh, I did. But she wouldn't let me call or text him. Literally threw her phone under the couch when I tried to grab it from her. God that girl is too nice for her own good. Also dumb, since she's going to move my entire couch to get the phone when she wakes up tomorrow." Cana muttered to herself.

Gray laughed. "I actually never talked to her while she was dating Lyon. Lyon texted me a bit about her a few times but i hardly read my texts so I don't know anything about their relationship. I just assumed it was going well. Come to think of it they had a bit of problems throughout the year but he said they resolved them so I never pried."

"She's honestly a great catch." Cana muttered. "Anyone would be lucky to have her, in fact i should start introducing her to new people asap next semester. Maybe I shouldn't have let her drink so much in the middle of the day. Going out with us probably would've been a better solution to her problems."

"Yeah Cana, you don't need to force ur alcoholic tendencies on every innocent person you're friends with." Natsu chimed in, not knowing the context of that sentence.

He held the vibrating buzzer in his hands. "Come on, tables ready." he announced excitedly and ran in with Lucy hugging his arm.

Dinner went by as usual with the 4 of them, plus Cana, who made the conversation more vulgar than it needed to be at times. They didn't discuss Juvia anymore, instead they focused on memories they made that year, and what they were up to during the break. It was almost midnight when they were leaving, and Natsu last minute decided to stay the night at Lucy's so he could help her pack tomorrow morning. Loke half-assed tried to bring Cana to their apartment but she had to go home to stay with Juvia. Loke passed out the moment they got home, both of them equally exhausted from laughing at Cana's ridiculous anecdotes all night. Gray was in his bed, ready to sleep at almost 1am. But, in an unprecedented action, he decided to pull up his phone to Lyons message thread. Perhaps the fact that that quite, slightly awkward girl he met in the elevator had drunk herself into a slumber over his stupid brother sort of bothered him. He scrolled for a while until he was a few hundred messages in. He ignored the messages that weren't Juvia related, and begun reading them for real. Most were dry and to the point, but there was evidence of instances where their relationship was not smooth sailing.

July 2017.

 _L: Yo, we're dating! Remember that girl you met a few weeks ago, Juvia!_

 _G: Oh. congrats._

 _L: Thanks :) she was really cute remember?:)_

 _G: /thumbs up_

 _They talked about how Gray was adjusting and stuff, and Lyon teased him about getting together with Lydia already. Gray remembered having to hide his phone during this cause Lydia was reading over his shoulder, as usual._

 _L: We went on our first a date! Omg She's so passionate about art. She talked about this one artist for the whole dinner and we literally didn't run out of anything to say. And she really understands his work. It's the one i like too! We're so similar omg. And she's so sweet and nice. One of the waiters spilled some tea on her and she apologized. Remember Gina omg she literally would have got him fired or something if that happened to her. I love her omg._

 _G: Cool_

 _L: :D_

 _L: Bro, i fucking love her. She listens to everything i listen to is this fate?_

 _G: Guess so._

 _L: We went to an art museum :)_

 _G: sounds fun_

 _L: ARENT YOU HAPPY FOR ME_

 _G: yeah :)_

 _L: D:_

 _L: We got into a fight D:_

 _G: Ok? Why are you telling me?_

 _L: Because ur my brother?_

 _L: She keeps telling me that im really aloof and distracted about my work, and i told her that wasn't something she needed to be concerned about, but she got so defensive and angry and she was going to spend the night but she just left. Like 30 mintues ago, what do i do?_

 _G: idk? text her ur sorry?_

 _L: Sorry about what? It isn't her concern why would she get so mad_

 _L; help me out!_

 _G: idk? Im sleeping bye._

 _This was a month into their relationship, when they were working out their kinks. Gray didn't have a huge opinion of Juvia but he knew Lyon was quite a lot to deal with, it was inevitable they would have an argument some time or another._

 _L: We resolved the fight! :)_

 _Gray honestly was annoyed at Lyon's messages about their relationship at this point. But Lyon was always like this to him when he's dating someone, as if Gray was qualified, or cared enough, to be his personal therapist._

 _L: omg pls let me vent for a minute_

 _L: Yo Juvia's actually kinda crazy, wow. Like i told her to calm down once because she was getting so into my problems that i was starting to get worried she wasn't paying attention to her own work. But she got mad at me, when i tried to feel concerned for her? Like shes doing what she got mad at me for?_

 _G: don't you have other people you cna talk to about this? Idk what to say_

 _L: Yes but Lydia said you're good at romantic advice_

 _G: wtf. Why are you talking to Lydia about me?_

 _L: hehe so anyways,_

 _L: everytime we talk now i feel so awkward cause we never really fixed this fight, we jsut acted like nothing happened Like i can feel that she's mad at me, but I'm not sure why? And how to resovle this?_

 _G: really can't help you dude. I have a midterm tmr, bye_

 _L: oh we're good now!_

 _L: She explained to me that her ex would tell her to stop worrying about him all the time, and then she found out he was cheating on her so she just got reminded of that. She apologized to me about how she has really small things that really offset her and she was also scared she scared me off cause she didn't want to show that to someone she was only dating for a few weeks. I actually can't believe she cares so much about my opinion. also how come we've never hung out together since the start of the semester. We shud get lunch :) Bring Lydia, we can have a double date ;) She's actually in Juvia's class but she said they hardly talk._

 _Gray didn't mean to ignore the first message, but he was once again with Lydia and he was scared she would read over his shoulders again and flip out._

 _L: Okay, i guess you were busy this weekend, but do you wanna go on a double date this weekend!_

 _G: cant, too many assignments_

 _L: Oh Gl_

 _L: my dear little bro don't over work ur genius little brain U w U_

 _G: thanks u too_

 _(Lyon was so gross in general)_

 _L: OMG mom wants to meet Juvia, what do i do, don't you feel like this is too fast to bring her to mom._

 _G: Wow_

 _G: you told mom about her?_

 _L: Yeah, ofc?_

 _L: she didn't have time to visit home with me D:_

 _L: LOOOL DUDE SHE HAD ME SAVED ON HER PHONE AS HER PRINCE LOL SHES SO CUTE_

 _L; omg she made me a stuffed version of myself?_

 _/picture of it._ Wow it's quiet well made, Gray thought to himself

 _L: pls tell me how to feel about this OMG_

 _L: LOL we just did the spicy ramen challenge with ren and sherry and she out ate all of us. Omg i haven't seen someone that unaffected by them since ultear_

 _L: bad news D:_

 _L: were fighting again D:_

 _L: It's cause she says the way i resolve conflict is annoying D:_

 _This was the start of the few messages he didn't read yet, and they were only from a month ago. Pretty recent._

 _Later that same night_

 _L: Why does she always need to be up my ass about every part of my life. It has nothing to do with her. And i'll talk to her about things when I feel like it, honestly why does she try to distract me from_ my life _all the time._

 _L: i still lvoe her though._

 _L: so much_

 _L: can u call her for me i think shes not answerring my calls tonighht_

 _L: shit sorry about that, damn._

 _L: im never drinking ever again_

 _L: I jist feel so disconnected with everything lately. Her too, but I just cant talk to her about somethings._

 _L: I don'tknow why she doesn't understand tHat._

 _L: Can i call you forreal though i wanna talk to you about something._

 _L;Im here._

 _G: okay_

This was when they went home together one weekend. Gray hadn't ever read these messages since he had opened them when Lyon told him his car was in front of the building and the notification disappeared and he forgot to read the unread ones. But Lyon didn't bring up anything about them after. Was this about his school transfer. That was when Lyon stop sending updates on her.

There were a few more messages unrelated to Juvia, but Gray was caught up in what he missed. It wasn't as much as he thought it was, but the one he accidently skipped were the ones that held the most weight. For some reason, he felt inexplicably annoyed at Lyon. Gray had first hand experience in growing up with Lyon and knew full well how annoying he came off to be. Although he was selfless by nature, he doesn't realize that everyone is different. It never occurs to him to think that what he would consider considerate action being done towards him wouldn't be perceived the same way to everyone. It sounded like he always had Juvia's well being in his mind, but he never asked her what her conception of that was in her mind. Maybe the reason they kept having the same fight was because Lyons method of avoiding future fights was ignore and forget, which seems like something Juvia didn't like doing. Honestly, Juvia sounded like the one that was truly patient, so willing to put up with everything. She wouldn't even complain until she was in a state where she physically couldn't contain her emotions. Gray wondered if she would ever think about breaking up with him if none of the last few days events had happened. Probably not, if she sounded as sweet as Cana put her out to be.

He thought back to the day he met her for the first time. She seemed quite ordinary, really quiet and seemed a but scatterbrained since she did forget her keys, and it was like her third time doing that or something.

To be honest, he didn't care about Lyon's relationships (his ex Gina really was extra crazy though, he specifically hated her) but if Juvia had mutual friends with his friend group, they were probably going to end up meeting some time. And that would be the closest he's ever gotten to one of his brothers girlfriends, so that was probably why he was thinking about it at all in the first place. Gray sighed, and rolled over. Whatever this really didn't have anything to do with him, and he was ready to sleep half an hour ago.

 _Lydia: cant sleep ~_

 _Lydia: you up?_

Gray saw the notifications flash, but he ignored it. He fell asleep within minutes. He also just really did not know how to deal with Lydia at all right now for some reason.

 _He was staring at a table with a cup placed in the middle. The cup was filled to the brim with clear, blue water and when he looked in it, it appeared to be bottomless. Suddenly, staring back at him was the reflection of Juvia's crying face. When he lifted his head up to see her, 2 cold hands grabbed his face and he was staring at a child he with black hair he didn't recognize. She was floating in mid air right in front of him. Suddenly, there was no table or cup anymore, and the room turned pitch black. The girl tried to cry out but bubbles formed instead of words. He wanted to scream out he'd help her but he woke up._ And saw he was alone in his bed soaked with sweat.

And there was someone knocking obnoxiously on his door.

"We won't be seeing each other for 2 weeks, and you won't even say bye to me?" Loke asked in mock hurt when he decided to just push open the door by himself.

"I'm still sleeping." Gray shouted, but it was probably actually a mumbled whisper.

Loke obviously didn't care about anything Gray had to say unless it was a proper goodbye.

"Won't even feel bad I have to walk to the station in the snow, and with my bags. Alone! Worst roommate ever."

"Fine, fine. I'll miss you." Gray muttered, sitting up.

"No goodbye hug?" Loke asked, opening his arms wide, and giving him a flirty smile.

"Ew." Gray said. "I feel like that's one of your hookup lines?"

"Yep, totally is." Loke said. "Well bye loser. Let me know if were moving apartments so i can buy a ticket back as early as possible." He purposely left the door open to annoy Gray.

Gray was also going home today, with Lyon. But they didn't set a time yet. Their hometown was only a 4 hour drive so they could really leave at any time of the day. Gray had nothing to do but wait for the text, so he packed. When he was done, and feeling hungry, he took out 3 packets of microwaved macaroni and cheese. Because exams were over, and Lydia gave up on the diet she had them go on a week ago, he was allowed to eat whatever he wanted, and gorged. Even Natsu would be proud of him. Besides someone had to get rid of all that frozen food before his mom came to help him unpack next month before she had a fit. She was sort of a health nut after she lost her leg, and wanted to believe her children shared the same lifestyle.

He checked his phone again, and he had 3 new messages from Lyon.

L: I'll be at your place by 3.

L: Btw im driving Juvia to the airport cause it's on the way

L: Gajeel her roommate doesn't know we broke up so don't act weird also Lydia's here because she didn't want to ride share and im apparently everyones taxi . 0 .

Gray felt a spike of annoyance at Lyon again. Of course her scary roommate (as Lyon has described him before) wouldn't be let known they broke up since it was completely Lyon's idea.

Gray let him know he would be waiting at the front of the building. He settled for straightening the apartment up. Natsu lived in the neighbouring town so he could basically leave for home whenever, but he knew that lazy ass wouldn't bother to clean even if they were infested with rats. Gray says something as extreme as rats cause Natsu's room probably had all the other sorts of infestations this semester alone.

By 3 he was outside the building, exhausted from being woken by Loke, packing everything in case they really did move to Lyon's fancy apartment, and making sure the apartment was sparkling clean. Lyon pulled up, and as he stepped out to shove Gray's stuff in the loaded trunk, he groaned inwardly when he realized he had to sit beside Lydia. With so many people, Lyon might've been distracted enough to not talk to him, but Lydia definitely won't give up this chance. And that tension in the air was totally noticeable and unbalanced unless you were extremely dense to these kind of situations, as Lydia was.

"Hey" Gray said to the stranger who was on the other side of Lydia who was seated in the middle, he was assuming was Juvia's roommate.

He was taking up almost half of the backseat, looking extra huge next to tiny Lydia. He certainly looked like someone you would not want to have pissed at you. He retracted his previous thoughts. It was Lyon's fault but his brother didn't deserve to die for breaking up with someone. He had piercings all over his face, and long black hair to his waist, and looked like he could kill you with an eyebrow raise.

"Hey." He said back, with a voice as deep and rough as his appearance. "I'm Gajeel."

"Gray." Gray responded.

"Hey Juvia." He said, to Juvia who had been quiet in the front seat.

"Hi, Gray." She said, turning her head to smile at him. She looked completely fine for the state she was in yesterday.

"Hungover?" He teased.

"W-What?" Juvia stuttered, clearly embarrassed that he knew that about her.

Lyon and Lydia both whipped their heads to his direction.

Oh right. The reason she was forced into drinking was to vent about her breakup, that this scary Gajeel dude shouldn't know about. Opps.

"Did you guys go out together last night?" Lyon asked, trying to keep his voice light and even. At least he didn't have to pretend to act like she was his girlfriend in this aspect. He's always had a jealous side towards everything.

"Oh no," Gray said, sneaking side glances to Gajeel. To be honest he was most terrified of his response. He was made out to sound protective of Juvia and maybe he would get mad she was drinking with another guy when he thought she was still with Lyon? But he had no reaction.

Unlike Lydia.

He could feel her glancing at him with hurt in her eyes, and he remembered that he didn't answer her text either last night. Oh shit, she's going to spiral the whole car ride until he sets things straight right away.

"Oh no, she went out with Cana and Cana told me about it." He quickly explained.

"Who's Cana?" Lydia asked, with even more hurt in her voice. "You said you were with Natsu last night."

Gray cringed, while Lyon chuckled, visibly more relaxed about the situation. He said something Gray couldn't hear over the radio to Juvia and she laughed out loud, unfortunately leaving Gray to deal with his own situation.

"She's just a friend." He said, as earnestly as possible. "We went to dinner with Natsu and Loke and Lucy and she came along."

"Oh, we're you out long?" She pressed.

"I was sleeping when I got your message." Gray said, knowing that's what she wanted to know. "Then Loke woke me up really early and i spent the whole day cleaning and forgot to check my phone."

"Oh. okay." She said, her expression returning to cheerful. Gray sighed with relief. How did he end up in a situation where he had to defend himself hanging out with a girl he barely knew to someone he wasn't even dating? Lydia, perked up again, and started talking to him about her own night. He was glad she bounced back to normal so quickly. They talked for a little while before they both fell tired. Gray zoned out, half focused on the conversation between Lyon and Juvia. He couldn't make out any of the words they were exchanging but he could tell the tone was light and amiable.

He must have dozed off for a little bit because the next thing he knew they had pulled into the departure terminal at the airport. Lyon and Gajeel were getting their bags from the trunk, while Juvia waited by the front of the car, adjusting her hat to cover her ears. He saw for a second when her hat was lifted that she had around 2 inches of black roots. She still had her hat on when they ran into each other in the elevator, so this was his first time seeing her natural hair. And she had naturally jet black hair. But that was quickly hidden and she started to fidget with her phone. Gray didn't realize he was staring until Lyon handed her her luggage, and he felt Lydia nudge his shoulder.

"Stop staring at them, you weirdo." She said, pouting. "Let them have their privacy."

The two stood there for a bit just looking at each other, looking like they both needed to say something important, but were both too afraid too. It didn't look uncomfortable, just very bittersweet since Gray realized this was probably their last times seeing each other for a long time. Gray heard Gajeel telling her to hurry up.

Lyon probably out of instinct pulled her in for a hug, and kissed her cheek. Juvia looked slightly shocked, but smiled in response. She stared at him again before pulling him into another hug that lasted for a few seconds longer. She said something that caused him to smile through a slightly pained expression but with one last meaningful look at each other, she bounded ahead to catch up with Gajeel.

"Geez, you'd think they won't be seeing each other again or something with that goodbye." Lydia scoffed. Lyon was slowly making his way to the drivers side, his gaze still following her back. Oh right, he still hasn't told Lydia yet. Which was probably going to happen in this already uncomfortable car ride.

Juvia's POV

"That guy's got some attachment issues." Gajeel noted when they were out of earshot of their previous company.

"Yeah, um. He's just like that." Juvia said. She felt her voice quiver a bit. She could feel the emotions bubbling inside her. It hadn't truly hit her until they said goodbye just now that they weren't just broken up, they were broken up and not seeing each other afterwards for at least a few months, if not ever. Adding on to the fact that it was difficult for her to lie to anyone, and even worse to try when it came to Gajeel, she could not help the tinge of sadness that made its way into her usual perky self. Worst of all, she couldn't even lift her head to meet his eyes, and could feel his hot stare at the top of her head.

"You seem kind of down, too." Gajeel stated accusatively, when he realized the slight hesitation in her tone. "Come to think of it, how come his brother knew you went out, but he didn't?"

Damn, Gajeel could totally be a lawyer if he wanted to with his questioning habits.

"Oh, um, that's cause Cana is closer to Gray, so."

Juvia continued stammering. "It wouldn't make sense for Cana to tell Lyon. hehe" She stopped, awkwardly.

"Juvia. You really suck at lying."

Juvia continued to walk silently, focusing even more on the floor she hurriedly storms by. Terrified to tell him the truth, but feel guilty that she was hiding such important news from him, she wrestled with what to do. She was certain he would see this as completely Lyon's fault, and she knew he would not be opposed to the 'chase down their moving car and throw himself into their drivers window to absolutely murder Lyon' method if he was mad enough. Which he would be.

It's wasn't like Gajeel won't find out soon enough when Lyon's suddenly not living in the same building as them when they return to school 3 weeks later. Maybe now's as good a time as any other. Or when as the plane is taking off so he would have no choice but to stay strapped in his seat and physically can't cause a commotion due to his extreme phobia of flying. Yes, that is probably the best case of action, she decided with a slight nod.

"Okay, to tell you the truth, we had a fight a few days ago, most likely just from stress hehe. I'll tell you more about it when we're boarded." Juvia promised, slowly down her speed walk into a springy skip. She finally looked up to meet his eyes, which were glancing at her in concern rather than the glare she thought she was receiving.

"You're still acting really weird." Gajeel muttered, but he stopped himself when he realized she was probably right. He always did have an issue with airport security because he looked a bit dangerous to any sane stranger.

Unfortunately, for Juvia and fortunately for Gajeel's secretly frail self-consciousness, they had no problems with security this time. All went as efficiently as possible, and they made it to their waiting room with plenty of time to spare.

Juvia groaned inwardly, knowing what was coming for her now. They settled in seats barricaded by their carry-on, and Juvia focused all her attention on the information screen as if she was very interested in their exact boarding time.

"Okay there's no way we won't make it onto our flight on time so you might as well tell me what happened now." Gajeel said.

"Um, it's really something we should discuss on the plane, Gajeel." She muttered. He's probably caught onto her plan, so he's pressing for the answers harder.

"Now, woman. Or I'm calling Lyon up." he threatened. She knew his threat was serious, so she drew in a breath.

"We broke up." She whispered, glancing down at her fidgeting hands.

"Huh?!" He said, his voice raising already. "When the fuck did that happen?"

"He's moving to another school so -" Juvia suddenly made a snap decision she realized would save both Lyon and Gray, and Lydia's (and Lyon's car) life from Gajeel body slamming it off the highway. "- so I had to end it. Um, a few days ago" She finished, desperately attempting to inject her voice with new confidence.

"Yeah, I just couldn't handle a long distance relationship." She noticed Gajeel tense up

"Not because I don't trust him or think he'll cheat on me." She quickly added before she knew he would bring up Bora.

"It's just too much work for both for the us. We're still friends, and we haven't made plans to visit each other or anything but I'm sure we're going to stay friendly and see each other in the future and stuff." She ended up running out of breath, but this was definately one of the best lies she's ever told she Gajeel. It sounded like a plausible situation, except it was the exact opposite of what actually happened.

She assessed Gajeel's expression, and he definitely seems much more calm after hearing what he thought was the full story.

"I guess since it's your decision, I support it." He finally settled on saying.

He shifted in his seat to pull his phone from his back pocket.

"So this is what not being late to your flight feels like huh. Check out this new game I started playing last night. Levy showed me."

"Eh?" Juvia said, slightly shocked at his mellow reaction to say the least. "I just told you I broke up with the first boyfriend after that whole Bora thing and this is your reaction? You dOn't want to kill him?"

"Well, there's no point killing him if he didn't do anything to you? And it's your decisions and you're an adult and I trust your decision." He guffawed at her despite getting fully immersed in his game. "Awe, do you think I stopped caring for you? If it was hIm that broke up with you in this situation, you know he'd be dead by now." He finished, his voice already raising again. He side eyed her for a reaction.

Juvia quickly waved her hands in front of her, shouting "No, no! It was my decisions." She turned away and pouted. "I just wanted to check if u still care for me."

"Yeah, yeah just let me know if there's anyone else who bothers you and I'll definitely make them pee their pants from fright any time. Now watch me get a new high score." He shoved his phone in her face, and she stayed silent while watching him shoot balls at bricks.

* * *

Hey yo, thanks for making it so far, to anyone reading this! Ur time and attention is very aprpeciated! Hope you guys are looking forward to chapter 6. Mini spoiler, they start texting over the break! If u guys hate the text format, LMK and I'll try to change it or include less of it in the next chapter hehe.

(Also just a tiny side note, I actually text like Lyon to my sister and she says i am the most annoying person in the world to text XD so sorry about that hehe)


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